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“Memphis…” he rasped. The air in front of his eyes became black dots. His foot was still nestled close to Memphis’s. He concentrated on moving just his foot. If he could just kick Memphis… He strained. Nothing. His vision swam. Soon, he would lose consciousness. Henry thought of never seeing Theta or Ling ever again. His foot twitched and brushed against Memphis’s ankle. And again. Memphis stirred. Come on, Henry begged. Wake. Up. The reserves in his lungs were nearly gone.
His foot kicked out suddenly, like an angry mule. Memphis bolted awake, still a bit sleep-dazed. He looked over and saw Henry struggling.
“H-help,” Henry eked out on the last of his air.
“Hold on, hold on!” Memphis was saying, putting his hands against Henry’s chest. And then, all at once, Henry could feel Memphis drawing the sickness from his trembling body. They were joined, and it wasn’t much different from a dream walk. Henry heard both of their heartbeats, at first out of sync, and then in the same rhythm. The cold grip on his lungs loosened. Henry’s breathing returned to normal. He sat up, coughing and sputtering.
“Better?” Memphis asked.
Henry nodded. Tears streamed down his face. His nose ran. It had been like drowning inside his own body. He drew in more air, not even caring about the pungent smell that hung over the camp. “Th-thanks.”
“What happened?” Memphis asked, once he was sure that Henry was all right.
“The King of Crows,” Henry said. “He did this. He wanted you to heal me. To use your power.”
“You mean use it up?” Memphis was nervous now.
Henry drew in several deep lungfuls of air. “I don’t know. He said he wanted to give you a real challenge. A taste of what’s to come.”
“A taste of what’s to come. What does that mean?”
“Dunno, but I don’t like the sound of it.” Henry wiped his nose on his sleeve.
“Do you think he would’ve… killed you?” Memphis said.
Henry wasn’t sure. It seemed more like a challenge than a murder attempt. “It’s like he wanted to use our powers against us. To let us know that he could do it. That bastard came for me in a dream walk. He used the dream against me. I had just found Ling, too.”
“Ling! Did he…?”
“No. She vanished before he got to me.”
“Did she say where they were?” Memphis asked.
“She and Jericho are on the Chitlin Circuit with Alma.”
Memphis couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing. “Now, that I’d like to see.”
And despite his near-death experience, Henry had to admit it was funny.
“Did she say anything about the others?” Memphis asked.
Henry shook his head. He could see how disappointed Memphis was by this. “Sorry, Memphis,” he said, and Memphis patted Henry on the back the way fellas did when they didn’t have words.
When Henry and Ling had confronted the ghost of Wai-Mae in the dream world, it had been terrifying. But to a certain degree, Henry had understood her motivations. The dream world had belonged to Wai-Mae as well; it had been the only escape for the angry, abused, scared girl who had died so tragically. This was different. It was like having someone break into your house and intimidate you into leaving it. The King of Crows was not lost or scared. He was cruel and power-mad and he needed to be stopped. Henry grasped this with new urgency.
Somewhere close by in the camp, a baby was crying. A mother soothed it, cooing softly. Everywhere was the sound of the river.
“Do you remember anything from your dream walk?” Henry asked after a moment.
“Only a little. I dreamed about holding Theta,” Memphis said. “But it felt like she was really in my arms.”
“She was, Memphis.”
“You think she’ll remember when she wakes up?”
“I hope so.”
The following night, while the Haymakers played their set, Ling and Jericho finally seized their chance to experiment with combining their powers. As they walked toward the woods, away from the dance hall on the edge of town and the cars parked every which way in the dirt lot, Ling was telling Jericho about her encounter with Henry in the dream world.
